It has been known to provide various forms of baffles in roofing structures to direct or channel air along the underside of the roof, usually from the soffit area of the roof upwardly into an attic space or toward vent ducts or a crest or ridge vent. Such baffle vents often are referred to as “vent chutes.” The baffle vents provide barriers to separate the interior surface of the roof from the attic area and from such extraneous materials such as insulation which might be located near the underside of the roof. The baffles direct the air against the under surface of the roof thereby keeping the roof deck cooler, preventing ice damming in the winter and eliminating the build-up of attic moisture.
A major consideration in the design and manufacture of such baffle vents has been the cost of such structures. Taking into consideration the large square footage of the roofs of buildings, such as residential homes, it has been a goal to design baffle vents so that they do not add appreciably to the cost of construction. Consequently, a number of baffle vents have been fabricated extensively of foam material sheets, thin walled plastics and cardboard and have been formed to be self-supporting so that the vents can be handled and manipulated into position for attachment against the interior surface of a roof.
Baffle vents conventionally have either been narrow elongated structures that are configured to fit between the rafters of a roof structure, or otherwise wider structures that are configured to be laid down, beneath roof decking, and rest atop of adjacent roof rafters. When the use of foam materials was initiated in fabricating baffle vents that were configured to fit between the rafters of a roof structure, the structures originally were relatively thick and of a simple channel configuration in cross-section so as to be self-supporting. Such thick structures were relatively expensive and added appreciably to the cost of construction. A baffle vent structure of a thinner foam sheet material that includes an improved reinforced structure to prevent the vents from collapsing during shipping, handling and installation, as well as to prevent collapsing of the vents from compacted insulation which often is blown into attic areas of a building against the underside of the baffle vents is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,341,612 to Robbins.
Baffle vent structures that are designed to be positioned between the rafters of a roof typically include attaching flanges that run along the length of the baffle vent at the side edges thereof for attaching the vents to the underside or interior surface of roofs between the rafters.
In manufactured housing, the ceiling/roof structure is often assembled or manufactured “inside-out.” In this process, drywall sheeting is first applied to the bottom edges of the rafters to form the inside ceiling of the housing. Insulation then is installed between the rafters on top of the drywall. The roof decking or sheeting (e.g. plywood panels) then is attached to the top edges of the rafters and, lastly, the exterior roofing (e.g. shingles) are applied to the top of the sheeting. It readily can be understood that baffle vent structures that are designed for attaching to the interior surface of the roof sheeting, are not suitable for use when the ceiling/roof structure is manufactured inside-out as described above.
There are however baffle vent structures that are designed and configured to be installed over the top edges of roof rafters. Such baffle vent structures can be wide enough to so that the transverse side edges rest on the top edges of two adjacent roof rafters or wider so as to extend and rest on the top edges of three of more roof rafters.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,406,095 to Slavik discloses an attic insulation vent that has a corrugated shape with a plurality of ribs that are designed to prevent deformation and bowing.
Various baffle vent structures are exemplified in the disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 2,955,063 to Driscoll, U.S. Pat. No. 3,797,180 to Grande, U.S. Pat. No. 4,096,790 to Curran, U.S. Pat. No. 4,102,092 to Ward, U.S. Pat. No. 4,201,121 to Brandenburg, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 4,237,672 to Peterson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,269,007 to Ward, U.S. Pat. No. 4,421,203 to Bergamini, U.S. Pat. No. 4,446,661 to Jonsson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,704,312 to Butcher, U.S. Pat. No. 4,977,74 to Gregory, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 5,341,612 to Robbins, U.S. Pat. No. 5,596,847 to Stephenson, U.S. Pat. No. 5,600,928 to Hess et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,061,973 to Accardi et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,357,185 to Obermeyer et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 6,754,995 to Davis et al., and in U.S. Published Patent Application Nos. 2004/0134137 to Geer et al., 2005/0072072 to Duncan et al., and 2006/021886 to Ellis.
The present invention provides a baffle system that can be used to provide ventilation to attics and roofs at the time of new roof construction or can be easily retrofit into existing roof systems. The present invention further provides for solar energy control and harvesting in conjunction or combination with the baffle systems.